All posts tagged Jacob Lew

The government shutdown and the coming fight over the U.S. Treasury Department’s ability to borrow were the main focus of the Sunday talk shows. Below are some of the key points made by today’s talkers, including Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who appeared on four shows.

1. “We’ve never gotten to the point where the United States government has operated without the ability to borrow. It’s very dangerous. It’s reckless, because the reality is, there are no good choices if we run out of borrowing capacity and we run out of cash. It will mean that the United States, for the first time since 1789, would be not paying its bills, hurting the full faith and credit, because of a political decision,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union about what will happen if Congress doesn’t raise the so-called debt limit.

2. “We’re not going to pass a clean debt limit increase…. We’re not going down that path. It is time to deal with America’s problems. How can you raise the debt limit and do nothing about the underlying problem? … My goal here is to have a serious conversation about those things that are driving the deficit and driving the debt up. And the president’s refusal to sit down and have a conversation about this is putting our nation at risk of default.” House Speaker John Boehner (R. Ohio), speaking on ABC’s This Week. Read More »

WASHINGTON–Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Tuesday said U.S. tax receipts came in a little lower than expected over the summer, adding urgency to the Obama administration’s calls for an increase to the nation’s borrowing limit.

The Treasury last month told Congress the federal government would run out of borrowing room around mid-October and be unable to pay all of its bills soon after that time. Read More »

Democrats and Republicans left a meeting with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew Wednesday worried they were talking past each other and that there was no clear path forward for raising the country’s borrowing limit.

“There seemed to be no consensus as to how to figure this out,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said after leaving the closed-door meeting of Senate Finance Committee members.

“Right now, I don’t see a path,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah). “The secretary did not have any real suggestions other than this is a matter of grave concern.”… Read More »

In 2011, then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner repeatedly brushed off questions about whether Congress would raise the debt ceiling. He wasn’t worried, he would tell audiences. Congress would raise it sooner or later.

This time, the White House and its allies are openly telling people they are worried. Read More »

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Republican lawmakers Tuesday against tying the nation’s ability to borrow to funding for the health-care law, but he offered no new prescriptions for avoiding default.

Mr. Lew instead reiterated his call for Congress to act quickly to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and reinforced that the Obama administration won’t negotiate over the borrowing limit, according to remarks prepared for a speech to the Economic Club of Washington. Read More »

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, a key adviser in the White House’s search for the next Federal Reserve chairman, has met with two of the leading candidates in recent months as the Obama administration formulates its pick.

Mr. Lew met or spoke with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers on at least three occasions between February and the end of July, according to his official calendar. These include a morning phone call on March 19, a 20-minute meeting at Treasury on April 5, and a 95-minute meeting on the evening of June 4 at Treasury. Read More »

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) tried to get Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to budge on the White House’s insistence it wouldn’t negotiate spending cuts in exchange for a debt ceiling increase. But Mr. Lew was adamant the White House’s position wouldn’t change, people familiar with the matter said Thursday

At a Wednesday meeting, Mr. Boehner presented Mr. Lew with a list of other times the White House and Congress have agreed to budget changes in exchange for a debt limit increase.

“Every major effort to deal with the deficit over the past 30 years has been tied to the debt limit,” Mr. Boehner’s office said in a statement. “This time should be no different.”… Read More »

When Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress on Monday that the debt ceiling would have to be raised by mid-October, he essentially set the stage for the third debt-ceiling debate since Republicans swept the 2010 midterm elections and took control of the House of Representatives.

So what should we expect this time? Here are some reasons the upcoming debate could be a fiasco, and some reasons it could be relatively painless:Read More »

Lawmakers and policy makers–particularly Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who appeared on four separate programs–took to the airwaves to talk about Egypt and U.S. economic issues. Here’s a roundup of the best quotes from the Sunday talk shows.

“For the first time, I am very concerned… . I don’t think we know what kind of Egypt is going to emerge.” – Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), on CNN, talking about unrest in Egypt and a spate of violence over the weekend that left dozens dead.

“And what I have been assured of is that there is no capability at NSA for anyone without a court order to listen to any telephone conversation or to monitor any email. In fact, we don’t monitor emails, that’s what kind of assures me that what the reporting is not correct, because no emails are monitored now. They used to be, but that stopped two or three years ago,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, (R., Ga.), on reports that low level NSA officials have the capability to read emails and listen to phone calls. Read More »

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